News

This page collects a few personal milestones, research highlights, and stories about the people and collaborations that shaped my recent career.

Highlights and recognition

WKU mathematics researchers and students presenting control-theory research
August 2025 · Research recognition

Multiple Q1 publications in control theory

WKU highlighted a series of student-led publications in control and applied mathematics, including my work on piezoelectric-beam stabilization, cantilevered sandwich beams, and observability-preserving model reduction. The feature also recognized the broader research group and its international conference activity.

Researchers attending an IEEE Conference on Decision and Control
January 2024 · Research impact

Model-reduction research receives international recognition

WKU featured the recognition of our structure-preserving model-reduction research in IEEE Control Systems Letters and ESAIM: Control, Optimisation and Calculus of Variations. The work connects numerical analysis with reliable sensing and feedback control for flexible structures.

Undergraduate researcher presenting a Wolfram Demonstrations poster at the Joint Mathematics Meetings
Research mentoring and broader impact

Wolfram Demonstrations research represented at JMM

A related research-group milestone came through undergraduate collaborator Jacob Walterman, who presented work on Wolfram Demonstrations for boundary stabilization and control at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. The project continued our efforts to turn mathematically reliable models into approachable, interactive simulations.

Ahmet Kaan Aydin presenting multilayer beam research at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control
December 2022 · IEEE CDC, Cancún, Mexico

EPSCoR-supported research presented at IEEE CDC

I presented our paper on robust filtering of sensor data for a piezoelectric sandwich-beam model at the 61st IEEE Conference on Decision and Control. The work was supported by the Kentucky NSF EPSCoR KAMPERS project and focused on retaining reliable boundary sensing after numerical model reduction.

Ahmet Kaan Aydin at Western Kentucky University
April 2022 · Award

John D. Minton Graduate Student Award

I received WKU’s 2021–22 John D. Minton Graduate Student Award, the Graduate School’s highest student honor. The award recognized a period in which my graduate experience brought together research, teaching, student leadership, and collaboration with undergraduate researchers.

Additional updates

Jul 01, 2026 I began serving as President of the UMBC Graduate Student Association on July 1, 2026.
May 08, 2026 I received UMBC’s Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Field of Mathematics recognition.
Mar 25, 2026 I presented at the SIAM Conference on Uncertainty Quantification (UQ26) in Minneapolis, Minnesota.